Radio frequency identification for collecting stage-by-stage manufacturing and/or post-manufacturing information associated with a circuit board

ABSTRACT

A radio frequency identification (RFID) tag is coupled to a circuit board to track the specific operating and environmental conditions of each stage as the circuit board passes through one or more manufacturing and/or post-manufacturing stages. An RFID reader and data collector are used at each stage to read the RFID tag and store its identifying information along with processing information, operating conditions, and results for each stage. This permits to quickly and accurately collect manufacturing and post-manufacturing information for each circuit board at various stages as well as the operating conditions for each stage at a particular time. Such manufacturing and/or post-manufacturing metrics can then be retrieved on a stage-by-stage basis for a particular circuit board by an identifier associated with the circuit board.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY UNDER 35 U.S.C. §119

The present application for patent is a continuation-in-part of, andclaims priority to, U.S. Utility application Ser. No. 11/336,213entitled “Inline System for Collecting Stage-By-Stage ManufacturingMetrics” filed Jan. 20, 2006, and U.S. Utility Application No.13/031,217 entitled “Circuit Board with Radio Frequency Identificationfor Collecting Stage-By-Stage Manufacturing Metrics” filed Feb. 20,2011, both of which are assigned to the assignee hereof and herebyexpressly incorporated by reference herein.

FIELD

Various embodiments of the invention pertain to tracking and collectingcircuit board metrics. More specifically, at least one embodimentprovides for using an RFID tag in the circuit boards to track conditionsof various manufacturing, assembly, inventory control, and/ordistribution stages of the circuit boards.

BACKGROUND

In manufacturing processes, such as circuit board manufacturing, it isoften desirable to determine conditions at various stages of theprocess. This may be helpful in determining whether a particularmanufacturing stage is operating under optimal conditions or whether itis operating close to failure conditions. Conventional manufacturingmethods tend to rely on human interaction or monitoring to gauge thecondition of particular manufacturing stages. This is inconvenient, timeconsuming, and costly in terms of resources. Other methods may employautomated monitoring techniques, such as sensors, to measure someconditions at a manufacturing stage. However, these sensors typically donot provide information about each product (e.g., circuit board)processed at a particular manufacturing stage and/or how well theparticular process was applied to each product.

Additionally, determining whether a product failure was due tomanufacturing defect, component failure, or improper use is important inmany cases. For instance, whether a circuit board failure was caused byimproper use or product defect may determine whether the failure was anisolated incident or whether all circuit boards in the same batch aresusceptible to such failure and, therefore, should be recalled orreturned. Currently, it is difficult and time consuming to determinewhether a whole batch of circuit boards are susceptible to defects.

One problem in tracking the manufacturing conditions of particularcircuit boards across various manufacturing stages is how toindividually identify each circuit board. Because circuit boards areexposed to various chemicals and mechanical processes duringmanufacturing, it is impractical to print a number, barcode, or otheridentifier on the surface of each circuit board. That is, the chemicalsand/or mechanical processes tend to remove or damage such identifiers onthe circuit boards.

An additional problem exists in tracking circuit boards beyond themanufacturing stages. For instance, it may be advantageous to continueto track the circuit boards (and even products that incorporate saidcircuit boards) during a subsequent assembly, warehousing, anddistribution stage.

Thus, a system and/or method are needed to accurately track circuitboards at various manufacturing, assembly, inventory control, and/ordistribution stages.

SUMMARY

A radio frequency identification (RFID) tag is coupled to a circuitboard to track the specific operating and environmental conditions ofeach manufacturing stage as the circuit board passes through themanufacturing stages. An RFID reader and data collector are used atvarious manufacturing stages to read the RFID tag and store itsidentifying information along with processing information, operatingconditions, and results for each stage. This permits to quickly andaccurately collect manufacturing information for each circuit board atvarious manufacturing stages as well as the operating conditions foreach stage at a particular time. Such manufacturing metrics can then beretrieved on a stage-by-stage basis for a particular circuit board by anidentifier printed on the circuit board.

Additionally, in some implementations, the RFID tag may remain part ofthe circuit board after manufacturing. Thus, this RFID tag may continueto be used to track the location, conditions, and/or inventory thecorresponding circuit board using RFID readers and data collectors. Forinstance, the RFID tag in the circuit board may be used during asubsequent assembly stage (e.g., where the circuit board is integratedinto a device), in a subsequent inventory control stage, and/or adistribution stage.

One embodiment provides a multi-layer substrate comprising: (a) one ormore circuits boards defined on the multi-layer substrate; (b) one ormore automated optical inspection holes formed on the substrate andconfigured to identify the position and orientation of the one or morecircuit boards; and/or (c) a radio frequency identification (RFID) tagcoupled to the multi-layer substrate inside at least one of theautomated optical inspection holes, the RFID tag configured to identifythe one or more circuit boards as they pass through a plurality ofstages of a manufacturing process. In some implementations, the one ormore automated optical inspection holes may be located along a perimeterof the substrate outside substrate areas defining the one or morecircuit boards. Such perimeter may remain with the circuit boards aftermanufacturing or it may be detached/removed from the circuit boards. Inother implementations, the optical inspection holes may be locatedwithin areas defining the one or more circuit boards. The multi-layersubstrate may include a plurality of dielectric and conductive layers,each circuit board including an electrical circuit. The RFID tag may beused to collect stage-by-stage manufacturing information for each stageof the manufacturing process and associate the stage-by-stagemanufacturing information with each of the one or more circuit boards.An identifier may be stored in the RFID tag and associated with the oneor more circuit boards, the identifier being read from the RFID tag at aplurality of stages of the manufacturing process to identify the one ormore circuit boards and associate the one or more circuit boards withmanufacturing information for each stage of the manufacturing process.The manufacturing information includes at least one of operatingconditions, results, and/or other metrics for each stage of themanufacturing process. Each of the one or more circuit boards mayinclude a unique serial number or barcode that identifies themanufacturing information collected during the plurality of stages ofthe manufacturing process. The RFID tag may store a part number and acircuit board identifier associated with the one or more circuit boards.The RFID tag is removable from the at least one automated opticalinspection hole after completion of the plurality of stages of themanufacturing process. The one or more circuit boards may be detachablefrom the portions of the multi-layer substrate upon completion of themanufacturing process.

A second embodiment provides a multi-layer circuit board comprising: (a)a substrate defining one or more electrical circuits; (b) one or moreautomated optical inspection holes formed along non-circuit portions ofthe substrate; and/or (c) a radio frequency identification (RFID) tagpositioned inside at least one of the automated optical inspectionholes, the RFID tag configured to identify the circuit board as itpasses through each stage of its manufacturing process. The one or moreautomated optical inspection holes may serve to identify the positionand orientation of the multi-layer circuit board during themanufacturing process. The one or more automated optical inspectionholes may be located along a perimeter of the substrate or withincircuit board regions of the substrate. The RFID tag may be used tocollect stage-by-stage manufacturing information for each stage of themanufacturing process and associate the stage-by-stage manufacturinginformation with the multi-layer circuit board. An identifier may bestored in the RFID tag and associated with the multi-layer circuitboard, the identifier may be read from the RFID tag at a plurality ofstages of the manufacturing process to identify the multi-layer circuitboard and associate the multi-layer circuit board with manufacturinginformation for each stage of the manufacturing process.

A third embodiment provides a circuit board, comprising: (a) amulti-layer substrate defining one or more electrical circuits; and/or(b) a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag embedded between twolayers of the multi-layer substrate during a manufacturing process, theRFID tag configured to identify the circuit board as it passes througheach stage of its manufacturing process. The RFID tag may be positionedto avoid interfering with circuit routing or vias formed of the one ormore electrical circuits. The RFID tag may be used to collectstage-by-stage manufacturing information for each stage of themanufacturing process and associate the stage-by-stage manufacturinginformation with the circuit board. The circuit board may furthercomprise a unique serial number or barcode that identifiesstage-by-stage manufacturing information collected during a plurality ofstages of the manufacturing process.

Another embodiment of the invention provides a system for collectingstage by stage manufacturing metrics for a circuit board duringmanufacturing, comprising: (a) a circuit board having a radio frequencyidentification (RFID) tag with an identifier, (b) one or more RFIDreaders positioned at one or more stages of the manufacturing processand configured to read identifiers from RFID tags as they come withinreach of its radio signal, (c) one or more data collectors coupled tothe one or more RFID readers to store the identifiers read from RFIDtags along with stage by stage manufacturing information for themanufacturing stage, (d) a database to store the identifiers andstage-by-stage manufacturing information collected by the one or moredata collectors, (e) an RFID writer to obtain an identifier for thecircuit board and write it to the RFID tag on the circuit board, (f) abarcode writer for writing a barcode on the circuit board correspondingto the identifier stored in the RFID tag. The circuit board may alsoinclude an automated optical inspection hole in which the RFID tag isplaced.

Another feature of the system for collecting stage by stagemanufacturing metrics for the circuit board during manufacturingincludes a reporting server coupled to the database and configured to(1) receive requests for manufacturing information about a particularcircuit board, (2) retrieve the requested information from the database,and (3) send the requested information to the requesting party. Therequested information may include operating conditions for themanufacturing stages of the circuit board.

Having collected metrics during a manufacturing stage, the RFID tags mayalso remain with the circuit boards and serve to collect additionalinformation and/or track the circuit board during subsequent stages,such as an assembly stage, as storage state (e.g., for inventorycontrol), and/or a distribution stage.

A method for tracking a circuit board is also provided, comprising: (a)coupling a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag to a substrateincluding a circuit board, the RFID tag having an associated identifier;(b) tracking the circuit board through one or more manufacturing stagesusing the RFID tag to collect one or more manufacturing metrics for theone or more manufacturing stages of the circuit board; (c) tracking thecircuit board through one or more post-manufacturing stages using theRFID tag to collect one or more post-manufacturing metrics for the oneor more post-manufacturing stages of the circuit board; (d) associatingthe identifier with the collected one or more manufacturing metrics andlocation or status information of the circuit board; (e) storing thecollected one or more manufacturing metrics and location or statusinformation of the circuit board.

The RFID tag may be coupled to the substrate prior to adding electricalcomponents to the circuit board. The one or more post-manufacturingstages may include at least one of an assembly stage, a warehousingstage, and a distribution stage. The RFID tag may be inserted within anoptical inspection hole of the circuit board. The one or moremanufacturing metrics includes operating conditions of the manufacturingprocess. The circuit board may be integrated into another device duringthe one or more post-manufacturing stages, the RFID tag used to trackthe device. The substrate may include a plurality of dielectric andconductive layers that form a multilayer circuit board.

Another method for tracking a circuit board is also provided,comprising: (a) coupling a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag toa substrate including a circuit board; (b) assigning an identifier tothe RFID tag; (c) scanning the RFID tag for its identifier at one ormore manufacturing stages to track the progress of the circuit board;(d) obtaining one or more manufacturing metrics for the circuit board atthe one or more manufacturing stages; (e) storing the identifier and theone or more manufacturing metrics for the one or more manufacturingstages of the circuit board; (f) scanning the RFID tag for itsidentifier at one or more post-manufacturing stages of the circuitboard; (g) obtaining at least one of a location or a status informationfor the circuit board at the one or more post-manufacturing stages;and/or (h) storing the at least one location or status information forthe one or more post-manufacturing stages of the circuit board.

The one or more post-manufacturing stages may include at least one of anassembly stage, a warehousing stage, and a distribution stage. The RFIDtag may be inserted within an optical inspection hole of the circuitboard. The one or more manufacturing metrics may include operatingconditions of the manufacturing process. The one or morepost-manufacturing stages may include an inventory control stage. Thecircuit board may be integrated into another device during the one ormore post-manufacturing stages, the RFID tag used to track the device.The one or more manufacturing metrics and location or status informationmay be centrally stored by a server.

Additionally, a method for tracking a plurality of components includedas part of a composite product is also provided, comprising: (a)scanning radio frequency identification (RFID) tags for one or moredifferent components during one or more manufacturing andpost-manufacturing stages of the components, where each RFID taguniquely identifies a component or subset of components; (b) collectinginformation for each component at each of the one or more manufacturingand post-manufacturing stages based on the RFID tags; (c) assembling asubset of the one or more different components into a product; (d)performing validation of the product by scanning the combined RFID tagsin the product after a product assembly stage; (e) collectinginformation for the assembled product to ascertain whether a particularcombination of components results in defective operation of the product;and/or (f) using the collected information to avoid subsequentcombinations of components known to result in defective operation of theproduct.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates how an RFID tag may be coupled to a circuit boardduring an initial manufacturing stage to help track the manufacturingconditions of the individual circuit board according to one embodimentof the invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a circuit board including an RFID tag to track andmonitor the specific operating conditions and results through variousmanufacturing stages according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates another implementation of the invention in which asingle substrate has a plurality of circuit boards thereon which aretracked by a single RFID tag

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the flow of information for acollecting and reporting stage-by-stage manufacturing information for acircuit board according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a sample manufacturing report for a particularcircuit board according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for collecting andreporting stage-by-stage manufacturing information for a circuit boardaccording to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating that how a circuit board may betracked during one or more manufacturing stages and post-manufacturingstages using an RFID tag.

FIG. 8 illustrates a first method for tracking a circuit board.

FIG. 9 illustrates another example of a method for tracking a circuitboard.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a method for using RFID tags to trackand/or validate a plurality of components that make part of a compositeproduct.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description numerous specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, oneskilled in the art would recognize that the invention might be practicedwithout these specific details. In other instances, well known methods,procedures, and/or components have not been described in detail so asnot to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the invention.

In the following description, specific details are given to provide athorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will beunderstood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments maybe practiced without these specific detail. For example, circuits orprocesses may be shown in simplified diagrams in order not to obscurethe embodiments in unnecessary detail. In other instances, well-knowncircuits, structures, processes and techniques may not be described indetail so as not to obscure the embodiments.

One feature of the invention provides for coupling radio frequencyidentification (RFID) tags to circuit boards to individually help trackeach circuit board and the manufacturing conditions at variousmanufacturing stages.

Another aspect of the invention provides a system that quickly andaccurately collects manufacturing information for each item at variousmanufacturing stages.

Yet another feature of the invention provides a report mechanism forobtaining manufacturing metrics, such as manufacturing conditions, testresults, responsible operators, etc., at various manufacturing stages ofa particular circuit board.

FIG. 1 illustrates how an RFID tag may be coupled to a circuit boardduring an initial manufacturing stage to help track the manufacturingconditions of the individual circuit board according to one embodimentof the invention. Note that, as used herein, the term “circuit board”includes, but is not limited to, multi-layer boards, film substrates,flex circuits, multi-chip modules, printed circuit boards, and othertypes of liquid-laid, flexible, semi-flexible, semi-rigid and/or rigidsubstrates for forming electrical circuits or having dielectricmaterial. Circuit boards typically undergo various stages ofmanufacturing, including forming one or more dielectric layers (e.g.,resin reinforced layers), forming conductive traces on the circuit board(e.g., etching and plating), forming vias between layers (e.g., drillingholes), mounting electric components on the circuit board, and/ortesting of the circuits on the circuit board. These stages involvechemical and/or mechanical processes that may be performed, partially orcompletely, in an assembly line where the circuit board moves from onestage to another.

During manufacturing, a part number 102 is typically assigned to acircuit board 104 being manufactured. The part number 102 may beobtained from a list of instructions describing the board (also known asa shop traveler, routing sheet, job order, or production order) whichmay also include specific processing requirements for the circuit board104. The part number 102 may be electronically obtained (e.g., from acomputer), optically acquired (e.g., by reading a barcode from thetraveler), or manually entered by an operator and then transferred to anRFID tag 106 by an RFID writer 110.

In some implementations, in addition to the part number 102, anidentifier (e.g., a serial number for a circuit board) may also bestored in the RFID tag 106. The part number and/or identifier may besent by the RFID writer 110 to the RFID tag 106 via radio signals (e.g.,directional or omni-directional signal broadcasts), electro-magneticsignals, electrical signals (e.g., through direct contacts on the RFIDtag 106), or other means.

Alternatively, the RFID tag 106 may have an embedded identifier createdduring the manufacturing of the RFID tag 106. In such, embodiment, theRFID writer 110 is unnecessary. The RFID identifier may simply be readfrom the RFID tag 106 and then associated with the part number 102and/or serial number corresponding to the circuit board 104.

In various implementations, the part number 102 and/or the identifierstored in the RFID tag 106 may be a number, an alpha-numeric code, orsymbols. The same part number and/or identifier may be used by aplurality of RFID tags (e.g., a plurality of RFID tags have the samepart number to identify a particular group of circuit boards) and/or aunique identifier may be used by each RFID tag (e.g., each numberuniquely identifies each circuit board).

In some embodiments of the invention, the RFID tag 106 may be insertedinto an automated optical inspection (AOI) hole in the circuit board104. Such AOI holes are typically used in many manufacturing processesfor identifying the position and/or orientation of a circuit board.Using an AOI hole to hold the RFID tag 106 uses an existing feature ofcircuit board manufacturing process, thereby avoiding having to add newholes, and embeds the RFID tag in a place where it does not interferewith the chemical and/or mechanical processing of the circuit board 104.In fact, by placing the RFID tag 106 inside an AOI hole the RFID tag 106may be protected from mechanical processes, such as pressing or surfaceplanning, is not affected by chemical processes (e.g., etching, plating,etc.), and does not interfere with the manufacturing of the circuitboard 104.

In various implementations, the RFID tag 106 may be coupled (e.g.,inserted in an AOI hole) to the circuit board 104 at different stages ofmanufacturing. For example, the RFID tag 106 may be coupled to thecircuit board 104 at the lay-up stage once a substrate has been formed.If a multilayer circuit board is involved, the RFID tag 106 may becoupled to the circuit board during the formation of the first layer, amiddle layer, the last layer, or after the last layer of the multilayercircuit board. In some instances, the RFID tag may be positioned in aplace (e.g., AOI holes) from which it can be removed after the circuitboard manufacturing process is completed. In other implementations, theRFID tag may be embedded in a circuit board as it is being made. Forinstance, the RFID tag may be embedded in the resin used to form a layerof a circuit board or it may be embedded in between two layers of amultilayer circuit board. When the RFID tag is embedded in the circuitboard, it is positioned such that it will not interfere with circuitrouting or vias formed on the circuit board. For example, the RFID tagmay be positioned on the perimeter of the circuit board which is cutaway or removed once the circuit board manufacturing process iscompleted.

After the RFID tag 106 has been coupled to the circuit board 104, it maybe identified and/or tracked through various manufacturing stages.

An RFID reader 112 may read the part number and/or identifier from theRFID tag 106 using radio signals and provide the part number and/oridentifier to a data collector 114. The data collector 114 may storethis information for later retrieval. Thus, as the circuit board 104passes through various manufacturing stages, a tracking system havingRFID readers and data collectors at such manufacturing stages canidentify the particular circuit board by its RFID tag 106 and record theoperating conditions, processing results, responsible operator, andother information for the particular stage and/or circuit board.

FIG. 2 illustrates a circuit board including an RFID tag 206 to trackand monitor the specific operating conditions and results throughvarious manufacturing stages according to one embodiment of theinvention. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the circuit board 204 may have beenidentified and/or associated with the RFID tag 206 coupled to thecircuit board 204 at an initial manufacturing stage.

As the circuit board 204 passes through various manufacturing stages, itis identified by a plurality of RFID readers 208 and 210. That is, asthe circuit board 204 enters or leaves a particular processing stage, anRFID reader 208 or 210 reads a part number and/or identifier from theRFID tag 206 and stores it in a data collector 212 or 214. In thismanner, information about the circuit board's progress can be collected.Along with reading the part number and/or identifier from the RFID tag206 and storing it in the data collector 212 and 214, the data collector212 and 214 at each stage may also store the date and time in which theRFID tag is read, the name or identifier of the particular stage, thename or number of the operator (if any) responsible for the particularstage, data collected, results, and/or status or the condition of theparticular stage. In this manner, the condition, quality, oreffectiveness of each manufacturing stage for the circuit board 204 canbe obtained. That is, once the RFID tag 206 is read, the part numberand/or identifier therein can be associated with the informationobtained for each manufacturing stage.

Some of the stages at which a circuit board 204 may be tracked ormonitored using its RFID tag 206 may include: Prepreg Lay-Up, Pressing,Drilling, Hole Plugging, Dry Film Outerlayer, Plating, Strip-Etch-Strip(SES), Solder Masking, Surface Finishing (including Nickel/Gold, Tinimmersion, anti-tarnish (OSP), Silver), Routing, electrical test,Surface Mounting, Final Quality Assurance, etc.

According to various implementations, the circuit board 204 may beautomatically tracked by one or more RFID readers 208 and 210 as itmoves on a conveyor belt from stage to stage and/or manually tracked byan operator presenting the circuit board to an RFID reader 208 and/or210 at one or more manufacturing stages.

FIG. 3 illustrates another implementation of the invention in which asingle substrate 302 has a plurality of circuit boards thereon which aretracked by a single RFID tag 312. In this embodiment, a plurality ofcircuit boards 304, 306, 308, and 310 are formed on a single substrate302 and an RFID tag 312 is coupled to the substrate 302 in an areaoutside the circuit boards 304, 306, 308, and 310. In this manner, asingle RFID tag 312 may be used to track the plurality of circuit boards304, 306, 308, and 310 and the operating conditions, results, and/orother metrics for various manufacturing stages. This implementation isparticularly useful where multiple circuit boards 304, 306, 308, and 310are processed (e.g., formed and/or tested) at the same time.

Another novel feature of this embodiment is that the RFID tag 312 isplaced outside the circuit boards 304, 306, 308, and 310 on theperimeter of the substrate 302. The circuit boards 304, 306, 308, and310 are cut away from the substrate 302 prior to delivery leaving theRFID tag 312 behind on the unused frame area. Thus, the RFID tag 312 isnot delivered with the circuit boards 304, 306, 308, and 310. In analternative embodiment, a frame may hold one or more circuit boards asthey progress through different manufacturing stages with the RFID tagcoupled to the frame. Once, the circuit boards are completed, they canbe removed from the frame. In either of these embodiments, oncemanufacturing of the circuit board 304, 306, 308, and 310 on substrate302 is completed, the RFID tag 312 may be removed and reused with fortracking the manufacture of other circuit boards.

In yet other embodiments, an RFID tag 313 may be located within acircuit board 308 region and may remain with the circuit board 308 evenafter the manufacturing stages.

Another aspect of the invention provides for transferring informationfrom the RFID tag 312 to the circuit board(s) 304, 306, 308, and 310.For instance, a unique serial number for each circuit board 304, 306,308, and 310 may be generated, possibly, based on the part number and/oridentifier in the RFID tag 312. This unique serial number may be printedon each circuit board 304, 306, 308, and 310 as a barcode 316 (e.g.,2-dimensional barcode). This barcode 316 may be unique to each circuitboard 304, 306, 308, and 310 and can be used to later retrieve astage-by-stage manufacturing report for a particular circuit board. Thismanufacturing report may include the processing information, operatingconditions, functional and/or quality control test results collectedand/or stored during the manufacture of the circuit board. Themanufacturing report may be provided via a web-based application thatretrieves the stored information collected from the data collectors ateach manufacturing stage.

As previously noted, another feature of the invention provides forcreating automated optical inspection (AOI) holes 314 in the substrate302 and placing an RFID tag 312 at that position. These AOI holes 314are already part of many circuit board manufacturing processes and aretypically used by optical sensing machines to identify the positionand/or orientation of a circuit board. By inserting the RFID tag insidean AOI hole, the RFID tag 312 may be held completely inside the hole andhas a minimal effect on the manufacturing process of the circuit board.The RFID tag 312 fitting within an AOI hole 314 may have such dimensionsthat it fits completely within AOI hole 314. For example, the RFID tag312, including the antenna, may be housed in a compact package (e.g.,eight millimeter diameter round package, one millimeter thick).

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the flow of information for acollecting and reporting stage-by-stage manufacturing information for acircuit board according to one embodiment of the invention. A pluralityof data collectors 402, 404, 406, and 408 may collect progressinformation, test results, operating conditions, and/or compliancestatus information for each of a plurality of manufacturing stages of acircuit board manufacturing process as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. Thedata collectors 402, 404, 406, and 408 are coupled to a multi-collectorinterface 410 to transfer the information stored in the data collectors402, 404, 406, and 408 to a storage database 412. A main server 414 maybe coupled to the storage database 412 to control access to theinformation stored in the storage database 412.

When a requesting party 418, such as a customer, wishes to obtaininformation about the manufacturing conditions, results and/or otherstage-by-stage manufacturing metrics for a particular circuit board, amanufacturing report may be requested via a network reporting server 416(e.g., internet or web server). The network reporting server 416 iscoupled to the main server 414 to request this stage-by-stagemanufacturing information from the storage database 412. The informationreported to the requesting customer is not merely limited to orderfulfillment information but may also include stage-by-stage informationabout the manufacturing of circuit board. Such stage-by-stagemanufacturing information may include the dates and times a circuitboard has reached and/or finished a stage, the operator responsible foreach stage, the operating condition of each stage (e.g., relative orabsolute indictor of the effectiveness and/or accuracy of the particularmanufacturing stage), the current and past stages reached by a circuitboard, the results for each stage, and data for each stage. In oneimplementation, such manufacturing report may be obtained after thecircuit board has been delivered (e.g., based on a particular circuitboard identifier). FIG. 5 illustrates a sample manufacturing report fora particular circuit board according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for collecting andreporting stage-by-stage manufacturing information for a circuit boardaccording to one embodiment of the invention. An RFID tag is coupled toa circuit board 600. This may be done at an early stage ofmanufacturing, for example. An identifier is then assigned to the RFIDtag 602. This identifier may be the part number of the circuit board orit may be a unique identifier for each circuit board. As the circuitboard goes through each manufacturing stage, the RFID tag is scanned andits identifier is recorded 604. Along with the RFID tag identifier, theoperating conditions or information for each manufacturing stage throughwhich the circuit board is processed are also recorded 606. Theseoperating conditions or information may include operator name, date andtime each circuit board goes through each stage, test results for eachstage, and/or relative or absolute indictors of the effectiveness and/oraccuracy of the particular manufacturing stage. If one or more operatingconditions fall outside prescribed limits, the system may generate areal-time alert 608. This alert may serve to warn an operator about aproblem with a condition at a particular manufacturing stage. Therecorded information for the circuit board is then consolidated orstored in a database 610. Stage by stage manufacturing information ormetrics for the circuit board may be provided, upon request, as a report612.

The availability of such manufacturing metrics for each circuit board ona stage by stage basis may permit determining whether a subsequentcircuit board problem occurred during the manufacture of the particularcircuit board (or batch of circuit boards) or if it occurred as a resultof field misuse. Additionally, such manufacturing metrics can also beuseful in providing proof that a particular circuit board or batch ofboards were manufactured under optimal processing conditions and/orsatisfy a certain processing requirements (e.g., perfect conditions,etc.).

Employing the RFID tag to track the progress, status, and/or history ofeach printed circuit board through its manufacturing stages also helpsto optimize the manufacturing process by identify areas where improvedprocessing would be beneficial. This board-by-board tracking also helpsto identify defective circuit boards since they can be more easilyidentified when they fail a quality control or functional test.Moreover, the tracking system provides customers with complete anddetailed information about the manufacturing of their circuit boards atevery stage of manufacturing. Additionally, a barcode on each circuitboard can be used by customers to retrieve a manufacturing report forthe circuit board indicating stage-by-stage processing information andwhether the circuit board passed all functional and/or quality controltests.

Furthermore, the RFID tag may continue to be used in post-manufacturingstages to track location and/or status information for a circuit board.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating that how a circuit board 701 maybe tracked during one or more manufacturing stages 702 andpost-manufacturing stages 711 using an RFID tag 700. As previouslydiscussed, the RFID tag 700 may be coupled or integrated into thecircuit board 701 during an early manufacturing stage and used to trackone or more manufacturing metric. Additionally, the RFID tag 700 mayalso be used to track location and/or status information for the circuitboard 701 during post-manufacturing states 711, such as an assemblystage 704, a testing stage 713, a warehousing stage 706, and/or adistribution stage 708. The assembly stage 704 may serve to integratethe circuit board 701 into another device (e.g., a chassis). The testingstage 713 may serve to test the combination of assembled components(e.g., circuit boards). The warehousing stage 706 (e.g., hub management)may serve to store the circuit board and perform inventory control usingthe RFID tag 700. The distribution stage 708 (e.g., fulfillment stage)may serve to distribute the circuit board 701 or the device/product inwhich it is incorporated. The RFID tag 700 may serve to track thelocation or status at each of these post-manufacturing stages 711. Aplurality of data collectors 703, 705, 707, and/or 709 may serve tocollect such information at each stage and/or read the RFID tag 700. Amanagement and/or accounting database may serve to store the collectedinformation.

According to one aspect, the RFID tags may be used in various components(or devices) integrated into a composite device (e.g., end product).Such components may be manufactured by different manufacturers and,thus, may exhibit slightly different electrical behavior and/orperformance. The interaction among such components (e.g., video card,memory card, motherboard, network card, etc.) may cause inconsistentperformance and/or failures for certain combination of components. Thatis, certain combinations of motherboard, memory modules, and/or videocards may cause system failures, crashes, and/or unexpected behavior.Consequently, the various combinations of components may be trackedand/or recorded (e.g., during the assembly stage 704) using the RFIDtags for each component. Failures of component combinations may beascertained from a testing stage or field reporting and tracked based onthe RFID tags for such components. This may lead to identifying aparticular combination of components as undesirable or failure prone.Such undesirable combination of components may be avoided (e.g.,automatically) by the manufacturing system or a warning may be issued toavoid such combination. Thus, the use of RFID tags on components (e.g.,circuit boards, etc.) may be used to ascertain if a particularcombination of components is undesirable and then to avoid suchundesirable combination of components in subsequent products.

According to another aspect, a final validation for a product may beperformed (e.g., during the testing stage 713 or the distribution stage708) by rescanning the RFID tags of all components within a product.Rather than manually and/or visually verifying the components present ina product (e.g., taking apart a product to verify the components,recording part numbers in the end-product, etc.), the use of RFID tagsin each component allows validating the end product by merely scanningall RFID tags concurrently. This avoids an often tedious validationstage and largely automates validation of an end product.

FIG. 8 illustrates a first method for tracking a circuit board. A radiofrequency identification (RFID) tag may be coupled to a substrateincluding a circuit board, the RFID tag having an associated identifier802. The substrate may include a plurality of dielectric and conductivelayers that form a multilayer circuit board. The circuit board may betracked through one or more manufacturing stages using the RFID tag tocollect one or more manufacturing metrics for the one or moremanufacturing stages of the circuit board 804. The RFID tag may becoupled to the substrate prior to adding electrical components to thecircuit board. In one example, the RFID tag may be inserted within anoptical inspection hole of the circuit board. The one or moremanufacturing metrics may include operating conditions of themanufacturing process.

Additionally, the circuit board may further be tracked through one ormore post-manufacturing stages using the RFID tag to collect one or morepost-manufacturing metrics for the one or more post-manufacturing stagesof the circuit board 806. The one or more post-manufacturing stages mayinclude at least one of an assembly stage, a warehousing stage, and adistribution stage. The circuit board may be integrated into anotherdevice during the one or more post-manufacturing stages, the RFID tagused to track the device.

The identifier may be associated with the collected one or moremanufacturing metrics and location or status information of the circuitboard 808. Thus, the collected one or more manufacturing metrics andlocation or status information of the circuit board may be stored andassociated with the identifier 810.

FIG. 9 illustrates another example of a method for tracking a circuitboard. A radio frequency identification (RFID) tag may be coupled to asubstrate including a circuit board 900 and an identifier may beassigned to the RFID tag 902. The RFID tag may be scanned for itsidentifier at one or more manufacturing stages to track the progress ofthe circuit board 904. One or more manufacturing metrics may then beobtained for the circuit board at the one or more manufacturing stages906. The identifier and the one or more manufacturing metrics for theone or more manufacturing stages of the circuit board may then be stored908.

Subsequently, the RFID tag may again be scanned for its identifier atone or more post-manufacturing stages of the circuit board 910. At leastone of location or status information may be obtained for the circuitboard at the one or more post-manufacturing stages 912. The at least onelocation or status information for the one or more post-manufacturingstages of the circuit board may also be stored 914. The one or moremanufacturing metrics and location or status information may becentrally stored by a server.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a method for using RFID tags to trackand/or validate a plurality of components that may be included as partof a composite product. RFID tags for one or more different componentsare scanned during one or more manufacturing and/or post-manufacturingstages of the components, where each RFID tag uniquely identifies acomponent or subset of components 1000. For instance, the RFID tag mayemit or broadcast a signal that includes an identifier (e.g., number,code, alpha-numeric string, etc.) that may be associated with thecomponent to which it is coupled. Information and/or metrics may thus becollected for each component at each of the one or more manufacturingand/or post-manufacturing stages based on the RFID tags 1002. A subsetof the one or more different components may then be assembled into aproduct 1004.

The system may collect information for the assembled products toascertain whether a particular combination of components results indefective operation of the product 1006. The collected information maybe used to avoid subsequent combinations of components that are likelyto result in defective operation 1008. For instance, if a particularcombination of components is found to have failures above a particularthreshold, then such combination may be automatically avoided by theassembly system and/or a warning may be issued to the assembly operator.

Validation of the product may be performed by scanning the combined RFIDtags in the product 1010.

According to various implementations, the steps for the methodsillustrated in FIGS. 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 may be implemented by one ormore RFID scanners, computers, servers, storage devices, and/orcommunication networks. FIG. 4 provides one such exemplary device and/orsystem.

While various examples and figures herein illustrate the tracking ofcircuit boards through a manufacturing process, it should be clearlyunderstood that the present invention can be implemented on many othertypes of items to track them through their manufacturing stages.

One or more of the components and functions illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2,3, 4, and/or 7 may be rearranged and/or combined into a single componentor embodied in several components without departing from the invention.Additional elements or components may also be added without departingfrom the invention. The apparatus, devices, and/or componentsillustrated in FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4, and/or 7 may be configured to performthe methods, features, or steps illustrated in FIGS. 6, 8, 9, and/or 10.

While certain exemplary embodiments have been described and shown in theaccompanying drawings, it is to be understood that such embodiments aremerely illustrative of and not restrictive on the broad invention, andthat this invention not be limited to the specific constructions andarrangements shown and described, since various other modifications arepossible. Those skilled, in the art will appreciate that variousadaptations and modifications of the just described preferred embodimentcan be configured without departing from the scope and spirit of theinvention. Therefore, it is to be understood that, within the scope ofthe appended claims, the invention may be practiced other than asspecifically described herein.

1. A method for tracking a circuit board, comprising: coupling a radiofrequency identification (RFID) tag to a substrate including a circuitboard, the RFID tag having an associated identifier; tracking thecircuit board through one or more manufacturing stages using the RFIDtag to collect one or more manufacturing metrics for the one or moremanufacturing stages of the circuit board; and tracking the circuitboard through one or more post-manufacturing stages using the RFID tagto collect one or more post-manufacturing metrics for the one or morepost-manufacturing stages of the circuit board.
 2. The method of claim1, wherein the RFID tag is coupled to the substrate prior to addingelectrical components to the circuit board.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the one or more post-manufacturing stages include at least oneof an assembly stage, a warehousing stage, and a distribution stage. 4.The method of claim 1, wherein the RFID tag is inserted within anoptical inspection hole of the circuit board.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein the one or more manufacturing metrics includes operatingconditions of the manufacturing process.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein the circuit board is integrated into another device during theone or more post-manufacturing stages, the RFID tag used to track thedevice.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the substrate includes aplurality of dielectric and conductive layers that form a multilayercircuit board.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: associatingthe identifier with the collected one or more manufacturing metrics andlocation or status information of the circuit board.
 9. The method ofclaim 8, further comprising: storing the collected one or moremanufacturing metrics and location or status information of the circuitboard.
 10. A method for tracking a circuit board, comprising: coupling aradio frequency identification (RFID) tag to a substrate including acircuit board; assigning an identifier to the RFID tag; scanning theRFID tag for its identifier at one or more manufacturing stages to trackthe progress of the circuit board; obtaining one or more manufacturingmetrics for the circuit board at the one or more manufacturing stages;storing the identifier and the one or more manufacturing metrics for theone or more manufacturing stages of the circuit board; scanning the RFIDtag for its identifier at one or more post-manufacturing stages of thecircuit board; obtaining at least one of a location or a statusinformation for the circuit board at the one or more post-manufacturingstages; and storing the at least one location or status information forthe one or more post-manufacturing stages of the circuit board.
 11. Themethod of claim 10, wherein the one or more post-manufacturing stagesinclude at least one of an assembly stage, a warehousing stage, and adistribution stage.
 12. The method of claim 10, wherein the RFID tag isinserted within an optical inspection hole of the circuit board.
 13. Themethod of claim 10, wherein the one or more manufacturing metricsincludes operating conditions of the manufacturing process.
 14. Themethod of claim 10, wherein the one or more post-manufacturing stagesincludes an inventory control stage.
 15. The method of claim 10, whereinthe circuit board is integrated into another device during the one ormore post-manufacturing stages, the RFID tag used to track the device.16. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more manufacturingmetrics and location or status information is centrally stored by aserver.
 17. A method for tracking a plurality of components included aspart of a composite product, comprising: scanning radio frequencyidentification (RFID) tags for one or more different components duringone or more manufacturing and post-manufacturing stages of thecomponents, where each RFID tag uniquely identifies a component orsubset of components; collecting information for each component at eachof the one or more manufacturing and post-manufacturing stages based onthe RFID tags; assembling a subset of the one or more differentcomponents into a product; and performing validation of the product byscanning the combined RFID tags in the product after a product assemblystage.
 18. The method of claim 17, further comprising: collectinginformation for the assembled product to ascertain whether a particularcombination of components results in defective operation of the product;and using the collected information to avoid subsequent combinations ofcomponents known to result in defective operation of the product.